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Re-activateFinding a place to charge up is a key concern for electric car buyers. Our own first drive impressions showed that especially in cold weather the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf exhibited significantly less electric range than the manufacturers claimed. With the Leaf, running out of power can mean getting stranded for a long time before a tow truck can drag the car to a charging station.
Now Google is stepping up to help electric car drivers avoid that problem by displaying electric car charging stations on Google Maps. The company is working with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which is developing a database of available charging stations (known as EVSEs, or electric vehicle supply equipment) around the United States. Installers of EVSEs have the option of having their stations displayed as public. When we were charging the Nissan Leaf at our facility, not a public venue, our chargers showed up on the Leaf's navigation system; The navi in the Leaf is designed to remember sites at which it had been charged.
Google has been a long-time proponent of electric cars, providing electric car charging stations for its employees and buying a fleet of plug-in Toyota Priuses. To access the charging station maps, simply go to maps.google.com and search for "electric car charging stations" and the target city. The service is available on smart phones from most carriers, as well as on any Internet-connected computer. Plus, some upcoming in-car navigation systems are starting to move to Google maps.
Charging stations are starting to proliferate around the country, and we hope that these mapping services will help make electric cars more convenient for consumers and reduce their range anxiety.
For more on electric vehicles, check out our special section on alternative fuels
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